I've been mulling over this New York Times article, Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking It, all day. It's an amazing thing to reflect on: SAN JOSÉ DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia — Since time immemorial the Nukak-Makú have lived a Stone Age life, roaming across hundreds of miles of isolated and pristine Amazon jungle, killing monkeys with blowguns and scouring the forest floor for berries.
But recently, and rather mysteriously, a group of nearly 80 wandered out of the wilderness, half-naked, a gaggle of children and pet monkeys in tow, and declared themselves ready to join the modern world.
....
The Nukak have no concept of money, of property, of the role of government, or even of the existence of a country called Colombia. They ask whether the planes that fly overhead are moving on some sort of invisible road.
They have no government identification cards, making them nonentities to Colombia's bureaucracy. ...
Are they sad? "No!" cried a Nukak named Pia-pe, to howls of laughter. In fact, the Nukak said they could not be happier. Used to long marches in search of food, they are amazed that strangers would bring them sustenance — free.
What do they like most? "Pots, pants, shoes, caps," said Mau-ro, a young man who went to a shelter to speak to two visitors. Ma-be added, "Rice, sugar, oil, flour." Others said they loved skillets. Also high on the list were eggs and onions, matches and soap and certain other of life's necessities.
"I like the women very much," Pia-pe said, to raucous laughs.
I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to enter a civilization as wacky as our own in 2006. Reading about the fact that these newcomers love skillets makes me want to drop everything and move to that town in Colombia to meet them and ask- what is so great about skillets?
However, the Nakuk-Maku peoples sudden decision to leave their previous lives and lifestyle behind is strange. After all, it couldn't be more different- their old lifestyle involved living deep in the forest with virtually no possessions, moving every few days. The New York Times states it is unclear why they decided to leave, and mentions the possibility of the drug war pushing them out. However, a quick look on the Internet about the issue brought up many articles that portray the Nakuk as refugees. For example, an article on Survival International called Nomads killed, and others flee as fighting rages, serves as a negation of the optimistic tone of the Times article concerning the Nakuk's situation. The United Nations website has this to say:
...In a related development, the UN issued the latest in a series of warnings today that Colombia’s indigenous communities are threatened with extinction because of the country’s four decades of civil conflict and the violence associated with the cocaine drug trade.
The Nukak Maku’s population has declined by almost 60 per cent in the last 20 years and today they number less than 500 members, of whom more than half have been forcibly displaced from their homes, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
The Nukak, who live in small nomadic groups of six to 30 and speak only their own language, have fallen victim to malaria and flu since their first contact with outsiders in 1988, and now their lands have been occupied by coca growers and parties to the conflict.
So now I am left feeling depressed, for the threatened Nakuk population, and regarding the Times' oversimplified, overly upbeat, reporting on the Nakuk, which is, incidentally, the most emailed article of today.
"Summer afternoon- summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James
